1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus which includes an absorbing member which can absorb a liquid which is adhered to a liquid ejecting head.
2. Related Art
In the related art, an ink jet printer, which prints (records) an image by ejecting an ink as an example of a liquid from a liquid ejecting head onto a medium such as paper, is known as a type of liquid ejecting apparatus (for example, refer to JP-A-2008-229962, paragraphs [0023], [0024], [0063], [0064], FIGS. 4 and 5 or the like). Such a printer is normally provided with a maintenance apparatus in order to maintain the characteristics of liquid ejecting from the liquid ejecting head.
For example, it is disclosed in JP-A-2008-229962, that a printer includes, as such a maintenance apparatus, an apparatus which performs maintenance of nozzles and an ink discharge surface (a nozzle surface) of a recording head (a liquid ejecting head). The maintenance apparatus includes at least an ink absorbing member which absorbs an ink, and a pressing member which has elasticity which causes the ink absorbing member to contact the ink discharging surface by pressing from a side which opposes a side which contacts the ink discharging surface. The pressing member includes a freely rotatable roller member which has a groove portion in a surface which contacts the ink absorbing member, and a shaft member which supports the roller member.
The groove portion of the roller member is disposed so as to avoid a position corresponding to ink discharge ports of the recording head. Therefore, when the ink absorbing member is pressed by the roller member and pushed against the ink discharge surface, it is possible to press a portion which corresponds to the ink discharge ports of the ink absorbing member using a flat portion (a portion other than the groove portion) of the roller member. Accordingly, it is possible to improve the adhesion between the ink absorbing member and the ink discharge surface, and to effectively perform the maintenance.
However, in the printer disclosed in JP-A-2008-229962, when the ink absorbing member is pressed by the roller member and pushed against the ink discharge surface, a portion which corresponds to the ink discharge ports of the ink absorbing member, which is pressed by a flat portion (a portion other than the groove portion) of the roller member, is pushed relatively strongly against the nozzle discharge surface. Therefore, there is a problem in that the fibers of the ink absorbing member rub strongly against the peripheral region of the ink discharge ports (the nozzle peripheral region) within the nozzle discharge surface, and that the peripheral region of the nozzle discharge ports is particularly susceptible to abrasion.
Normally, the nozzle discharge surface is subjected to surface treatment such as liquid repellant processing. However, when the nozzle discharge surface is abraded, in particular, when the liquid repellence of the nozzle peripheral region near the nozzles (the ink discharge ports) is reduced, an ink such as ink mist which is adhered to the nozzle discharge surface is more likely to spread wetly. When ink droplets which are ejected from the nozzles make contact with the wetly spread ink, this causes the ink droplets to fly astray, which causes the landing position (the dot position) of the ink droplets onto the recording medium to be shifted and brings about a reduction in the printed image quality. In particular, when the liquid is a pigment ink, the nozzle discharge surface is even more susceptible to abrasion due to the abrasive effect of the pigment particles within the ink which is absorbed by the ink absorbing member. Naturally, even if the liquid is a dye ink or a wet liquid, when the nozzle discharge surface is repeatedly rubbed comparatively strongly by the ink absorbing member, the liquid repellence of the nozzle peripheral region is reduced. Therefore, the same problem is present regardless of the type of the liquid.